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Poll: '47 percent' hurt Mitt Romney

Two-thirds of Americans have heard about GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s comments about the “47 percent,” and a majority of them said it makes them less likely to vote for the former Massachusetts governor.

Among Americans who knew Romney made the “47 percent” remarks, in which he said a portion of Americans saw themselves as “victims” dependent on government and were destined to vote for President Barack Obama, 55 percent had a negative reaction and 23 percent had a positive one, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Monday. A fifth had no reaction or a neutral reaction.

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Democrats, in particular, were unhappy with Romney’s comments: 88 percent had a negative reaction. Only 54 percent of Republicans had a positive one. Among independents, 18 percent had a positive reaction and 55 percent had a negative one.

Nearly half of those who were aware of Romney’s comments — 49 percent — said the media were covering the statements too much. Thirteen percent said there wasn’t enough coverage, and 28 percent said there was just the right amount.

The Pew poll of 1,005 adults was conducted between Sept. 27 and Sept. 30. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Romney come down hard on most people, yet Mitt's dad grew up on welfare. Ann Romney came the closest about her husband, when she stated she was worried about Mitts mental stability.

These are the people Romney is concerned over- the type of people Mitt brought into Bain Capital.

In 2007 Mitt said during a speech in Florida, “I owe a great deal to Americans of Latin American descent. When I was starting my business, I came to Miami to find partners that would believe in me, and that would finance my enterprise. My partners were Ricardo Poma, Miguel Duenas, Pancho Soler, Frank Kardonski, and Diego Ribandinarea.” Mitt failed to tell the American public these South American investors are linked to death squads in El Salvador, and ties to corruption in the Nixon White House.

Romney doesn't care about any other type of people -- In fact he doesn't mind abusing them...

MITT ROMNEY is a SERIAL FLIP-FLOPPER. He has said anything and everything through the years to get elected! He is literally on both sides of every issue, sometimes on the same day.

The Supreme Court has declared, “ALL THE FREE SPEECH MONEY CAN BUY!” And Romney is buying the Presidency in part to reduce his tax rate to zero. A good ROI (Return on Investment). HERE IS THE REAL RMONEY! Everything else is a empty suit.

As governor of Massachusetts, Romney was 47th out of 50 in job creation! And Bane Capital Rmoney appropriated pension and retirement money, outsourced jobs, and left ordinary Middle Class people with nothing!

WE CAN COUNT ON MITT. The Etch-A-Sketch Man TEMPORARILY really cares about us!

I am curious how seniors reacted. I believe that those who were cautious after the choice of Ryan about medicare might have tipped away from Romney. They had doubts and the video confirmed those doubts. It explains the shift in poll numbers.

The fact that anyone could have a positive reaction to Romney's 47% comments just shows that some people are so partisan that they will sign on to their preferred candidate's positions and statements no matter what. Regardless of what one might think of entitlements, there is no possible basis on which to support Romney's specific comments. Romney's comments are so factually incorrect as to defy comprehension. For example, it is obvious to anyone with just a passing awareness of current events that a large chunk of voters who pay no income tax are reliable Republican voters who would never support Obama or any Democrat. Beyond that, the comments are so disdainful of nearly half of the American population as to be disqualifying. How can anyone with such a low opinion of so many Americans be the right person to lead the entire nation? One might suspect that all politicians have a low opinion of large sections of the electorate, but with Romney it is not a suspicion, it is a certitude.

His comment hurt HIM? What about the audience? What about that 23 percent who had a "positive reaction" to the comment?

This says everything you need to know about the modern GOP. Forget all the flowery words they have about freedom and the value of life and god and family values and all the other camouflage they whip up to convince people of their good grassroots nature. The fact that he said it reveals much of Mitt. The fact that the Republicans are responding to it is indicative that it has become part of their mythos: it is now Republican dogma that half of America is lazy and should be left to starve to death, that anyone who doesn't pull their weight ought to be allowed to die on their own, and that Democrats are the party of moochers and thieves and victims who want the government to pay for them.

If you want to know what the losing side in the next Civil War sounds like - there it is.

The Republicans, truly, cannot figure out what myths they really want to keep, and so have decided to incorporate a wide range of conflicting lies as their gospel. For instance, Romney (and the GOP in general) have been pounding hard on the idea that Americans are not better off than they were four years ago. First, not true. Second, they want to simultaneously blast Obama for not making every single American's life better, and yet blast Americans for being dependent on government? I thought they were the "personal responsibility" party, the ones who embraced the power of the individual - and here they are assuming that the government's job is to coddle us, and it's the president's fault that we aren't sufficiently coddled!

So don't just blame Romney for his remarks. Romney is, after all, nothing but an Etch-A-Sketch upon which his campaign advisers write whatever they think he needs to say at a given moment. And when faced with a room full of rich, influential Republicans, that's what they think he needs to say - and they, in turn, eat it up, because they've been acting on that belief for their entire lives, that America is nothing but a pile of common rabble lined up around the block to steal their hard-earned wealth (that they, of course, earned without any help at all). Don't just blame Romney - blame the Republican Party that made this factually bankrupt elitism a pillar of their party.

First, anyone who would be swayed by that remark is evidently saying they're surprised Mitt Romney and the GOP would feel that way - and if they're surprised by that then they just haven't been paying attention. And - at least a portion of the 53% supposedly not "dependent" on government - besides things like having the roads paved, food safety, medical research, etc., etch. - should be and are concerned about the disdain the GOP feels toward the less fortunate in society. Even those who aren't compassionately concerned ought to be selfishly concerned- 'cause guess what- all those Grandmas living in Medicaid funded nursing homes still have to live somewhere - and if Mitt wins and his pals don't want to pay any more than their 15% carried interest tax rate on what is actually income- Grandma's coming to live in your den.

@AngelEyz, why are you going to vote for Romney? What exactly has Romney said that made you want to vote for him? The President's stimulus plan that G.W. Bush was going to implement, saved over two million private sector jobs. The Recovery Act has created many long lasting, good paying infastructure jobs all across the country as well. The people working on those projects don't believe the Recovery Act has hurt them.

Here's the reality of what four more years of Obama will bring. Going forward with Obama there will be 15% unemployment (real unemployment) for as far as we can see. 47 million people on food stamps it will soon be 60 million. Gas at $4.00 a gallon and with his anti drilling campaign he will have gas up to $6.00 a gallon. Obama has ended medicare as we know it by taking over 700 billion to fund Obamacare. The only way to save it is to repeal Obamacare. Lets run the national debt up another 5 trillion so we can bankrupt the country faster. And how about all the jobs being created right now. 96,000 a month whoopee. And last but not least he will tax those evil job creators to the point they will all move to China. We are going forward alright. The Obama nation is a total train wreck with no ideas...

These are the people Romney is concerned over- the type of people Mitt brought into Bain Capital.

In 2007 Mitt said during a speech in Florida, “I owe a great deal to Americans of Latin American descent. When I was starting my business, I came to Miami to find partners that would believe in me, and that would finance my enterprise. My partners were Ricardo Poma, Miguel Duenas, Pancho Soler, Frank Kardonski, and Diego Ribandinarea.” Mitt failed to tell the American public these South American investors are linked to death squads in El Salvador, and ties to corruption in the Nixon White House.

Have you noticed that nobody talks about these facts? It's well known but not mentioned. Romney has no clue how most of America lives and especially those in the 47% which includes senior citizens, military, and those struggling as they look for a job. He lives in a totally isolated wealthy world.....I have nothing against wealth but this man is not the one who is going to help middle class America gain the ground they have lost over the last decade. He's running to help his wealthy friends keep more in those off-shore bank accounts.

I am curious how seniors reacted. I believe that those who were cautious after the choice of Ryan about medicare might have tipped away from Romney. They had doubts and the video confirmed those doubts. It explains the shift in poll numbers.

Well, I am one of those seniors and I know a lot of other seniors.......he managed to make everybody mad that I know, along with a lot of military people who are in that 47% category. And by the way, I don't know any seniors who are in favor of a voucher system for themselves OR their children. Ryan's wife is a lawyer who has been a lobbiest for insurance companies. He and his wife are both Washington insiders and have been for years.

If anyone will bother to listen to what he said, he did not mention social security folks. And he didn't say he didn't 'care' about the 47% - just that they won't vote for him so there is no point in going after their vote. The MSM put words in his mouth - they are very good at that on both sides of the party line.